JJ Abrams turned down ‘Star Wars’ over ‘Star Trek’ loyalty

JJ Abrams has said that he turned down the chance to direct Star Wars: Episode 7 because of his loyalty to Star Trek.

Abrams, who is currently readying his new film Star Trek Into Darkness for release on May 17 2013, revealed that he was approached early on by Disney to helm the new Star Wars sequels but turned them down as he wanted to focus his attention on Star Trek.

He told Empire: “There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to Star Trek, and also just being a fan (of Star Wars), I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things.

“I declined any involvement very early on. I’d rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them.”

Disney has slated Star Wars: Episode VII for release in 2015 and hired Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt to pen the script. Meanwhile, the search for a director is apparently down to “a couple of candidates”, with X-Men‘s Matthew Vaughn reportedly “in talks”.